Marta Perry (11 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

M
EREDITH
HATED
TO
SEE
the evening come to an end, but as the lights of her house came into view, she knew it was time to return to reality. Zach pulled into the driveway, but when she reached for the door handle, he caught her hand.

“Don’t go in yet.” His smile was visible in the glow of the pole light at the end of the walk. “That’s what I always said, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” She relaxed, making no attempt to get out. “Luckily I’m not as much of a frightened mouse as I was at seventeen.”

Zach’s eyebrows lifted, maybe mocking her just a little. “You sure?”

“Positive.” She reached out to touch his cheek, her fingertips seeming ultrasensitive to faint stubble and warm skin.

“I’ll consider that an invitation,” he said, and kissed her.

Again. They’d pulled in at an overlook on the way home, one that was a favorite parking spot for teenagers. Any slight embarrassment she’d felt had slipped away quickly. They’d kissed, they’d talked, they’d embraced, only stopping when it became clear that if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to.

Now she nuzzled against Zach’s shoulder, content to feel his arm around her. He squeezed her and then winced, drawing back a little.

“Have you noticed that the gearshift is in exactly the wrong place in this car?” It was a soft murmur of frustration and amusement.

“It does seem that way. Meant to discourage teenagers, maybe.”

He grinned, stroking her hair. “No normal teenage boy would ever be discouraged by a minor hurdle like that.”

“Amazing that...” She let the thought trail away, afraid she might be revealing more than was wise.

“That we still know each other so well?” He finished for her.

She nodded. Apparently she couldn’t hide her feelings.

“I suspect that’s because what we had was real,” he said softly. “Not puppy love. Real.”

And real love didn’t die, did it? Being with Zach was like seeing something totally familiar and yet discovering wonderful new facets to it.

He still had that tough edge, but it was harnessed and controlled now. She’d seen that in the way he talked about the work he loved.

But his work was a reminder that this couldn’t last. Even though it felt like pressing on a sore spot to be sure it still hurt, she asked the question she’d been avoiding.

“When will you have to leave?”

He gave her a quizzical look. “Eager to get rid of me?”

“No, just...trying not to be surprised.”

“Yeah. You never did like surprises.” He glanced down at their clasped hands. “My boss has hinted pretty strongly that he wants me back on duty next week.”

Her heart sank. So soon. “I guess you’ll have to leave then.”

“Don’t go sounding so final,” he said. “You’re not finished with me yet.” He lifted her hand to his lips and spoke, his breath caressing her skin. “I’ll come back to check on the progress of the house. Often. And you can come to Pittsburgh for a weekend now and then, can’t you?”

She hesitated, glancing toward the house. The light was on in the living room, and she could see the flicker of the television screen. “I don’t know if I can get away.”

Zach moved, grasping her shoulders in a firm grip and holding her facing him. “Talk sense, Meredith. Your mother isn’t helpless. As far as I can see, she’s able to do everything she wants to do.”

“Yes, but if she has an attack when I’m not here—”

“She can call 911 like any sensible person. And if that’s not enough, you must know everybody in Deer Run. Surely there’s someone you can trust to keep an eye on her for a couple of nights. Just promise me you’ll try, okay?”

With his face close to hers, there was only one answer she could make. “I promise.”

Zach made it sound so easy. And with his lips on hers, she was able to convince herself that he was right.

After several long, breathless moments, she slid out of the car. Zach rolled down the window, leaning across the seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well.”

“Good night.”
Good night, my love.

The euphoria lasted until she put her key in the lock and opened the door. Meredith took a deep breath. Her mother was still up, and it was probably too much to hope that she wouldn’t have something tart to say. She may as well get it over with.

“I’m home, Mom.” She put her bag on the hall console and walked into the living room. The television showed one of the reality shows her mother typically watched. The ottoman was positioned in front of her favorite chair. But her mother wasn’t there.

Meredith had had such an image in her mind of her mother sitting there, counting off the number of minutes Zach’s car sat in the drive that for a moment she couldn’t believe the evidence her eyes were seeing.

“Mom?” She walked through the dining room to the kitchen. Also empty, with the light on over the sink and the dishes her mother had used not in evidence. Meredith touched the dishwasher. Still warm.

She checked the laundry room, powder room and her office. Nothing. Apprehension rising, Meredith headed upstairs. Her mother might have gone to bed, of course, but she would hardly leave the television on if so.

A quick search of the upstairs turned apprehension to something approaching panic. Her mother wasn’t in the house. She hadn’t left a note.

Meredith scurried back downstairs, double-checking the kitchen to be sure she hadn’t missed a message. She hadn’t. Was this her idea of payback, going out without letting Meredith know? Possible, but unlikely.

Before she had time to talk herself out of it, Meredith picked up her cell phone and pressed Zach’s number.

He answered immediately, his voice husky and intimate. “Want to say good-night again?”

“My mother’s not in the house.” Panic rose as she said the words out loud. “She didn’t have any plans to go out tonight, and there’s no note. I don’t know where she is.”

“Are you sure there’s not a note?” Zach’s voice had turned crisp and professional. “Or anything marked on her calendar or daybook?”

“Nothing.” She checked the calendar hanging on the pantry door as she spoke. “The television was on. She wouldn’t go out and leave it on. Besides, she hates to go out at night. Where could she be?”

“Stay put. I’ll be right there.”

She hung up the phone and stared at it, willing it to ring, to be her mother, calling to say that she’d gone out with friends unexpectedly. It didn’t.

Was she overreacting? She didn’t think so.

Meredith walked back through the downstairs again, knowing full well it was pointless. She reached the front door just as Zach knocked, and she rushed to open it.

“I don’t understand.” She grasped his arm. “Where could she be?”

“Take it easy.” He took both her hands in a reassuring grip, but she could see that he was already scanning the area, looking for anything out of place. “She’s a grown woman, not a child. You’re sure she’s not in the house?”

“I looked everywhere. Well, not the cellar or attic, but why would she go there?”

“Unlikely, but we’d better check, anyway.” He was already striding toward the kitchen. Opening the cellar door, he switched on the light. “I’ll take a look down here. Maybe you ought to start calling her friends.”

Thank goodness he was taking her seriously. And she should have thought of that herself. She yanked open the drawer where her mother’s address book lived, under the kitchen phone.

Zach came back up while she was on the phone with one of her mother’s bridge cronies. He shook his head, and a moment later she heard him trotting upstairs.

By the time he was back, she’d called her way through most of the names in the book, and the faint embarrassment she’d felt on the first few calls had vanished.

“Nothing upstairs,” he said when she hung up. “Have you called everyone?”

“All except Bennett Campbell. Do you remember him? Retired doctor?” She was punching in the older man’s number as she spoke.

“Vaguely.” Zach was frowning, his mind obviously churning. “Is the car here?”

“I didn’t think of—” She broke off as Bennett answered. Without waiting for more, Zach went out the back door.

Everyone else she’d called had expressed concern. Bennett was alarmed.

“You’re sure she hasn’t fallen somewhere?” His voice was brusque, as if accusing her of not being there when her mother needed her.

“She’s not in the house,” she repeated.

“You’d better look outside,” he said. “I’m calling the police.”

He hung up before she could protest. Still, maybe he was right. Struck by a sudden thought, she pulled open the cabinet where her mother customarily kept her handbag, insisting it wasn’t safe to leave it out where anyone might see it. The bag was there.

She heard the back door open and hurried back to the kitchen. “Her handbag is still where she keeps it. The car?”

“Still there.” Zach’s frown had deepened. “Do you have a flashlight? I’ll look around the outside.”

She nodded. “Bennett said to do that. And he’s calling the police.” She yanked open the drawer and reached for the flashlight, only to discover that it wasn’t there. “Zach, she must have gone outside. The flashlight we keep here is missing.”

Zach gave an abrupt nod. “You have another one?”

“Yes, of course.” She darted to the pantry and pulled two more flashlights from the emergency shelf. She thrust one into Zach’s hand and switched on the one she held before running to the door. “She must have gone outside. But why?”

Her mother wasn’t the type of person to go out in the dark to investigate a suspicious noise or a barking dog. She’d send Meredith or she’d call for help. But it seemed that was exactly what she’d done.

Zach was beside her when she reached the bottom of the porch steps. “The back porch light was on when I came out,” he said. “Did you leave it on?”

“No. It was off when I left, I’m sure.” She sent the beam of her flashlight spinning across the lawn, reflecting from the brave orange and yellow of the mums along the porch.

Zach’s hand closed on her arm. “Let’s be methodical about this. You walk around the house. I’ll take the backyard and garage.”

He was giving himself the more likely spot, she realized, but she wouldn’t waste time arguing. She nodded and trained her circle of light on the ground, looking for any sign as she went.

Please, please.
The prayer was instinctive and very nearly wordless.

Don’t panic,
she repeated the words as she circled the house.
That won’t help.

Nothing had disturbed the mulch around the shrubs beside the house, nothing lay hidden beneath the overgrown lilac bush she kept intending to prune. She reached the front just as two cars pulled into the driveway, one after the other. The first was Bennett’s dark sedan; the second the Deer Run police car.

Bennett was out first, hurrying toward her. “Any sign of her?”

“Nothing. Zach is checking the backyard now.”

“Zach Randal, would that be?” Jim Burkhalter, Deer Run’s burly, graying chief of police, followed Bennett more slowly.

“Yes.” Meredith kept her voice even. Chief Burkhalter would have been the person to whom her mother had reported the theft that had torn Zach away from her. “We had been out to dinner. When I returned and found my mother missing, I called him to help me look for her.”

“Instead of the police or your mother’s friends?” he asked.

“Obviously I called my mother’s friends, as well.” She wouldn’t let his question annoy her. He’d never been noted for tact. “And Bennett said he’d notify you. It’s only been...” She paused to look at her watch. “It’s been about twenty minutes since I went inside and realized she wasn’t there. I was alarmed, because she didn’t have plans to go out tonight. The television was playing. Her purse is where it belongs. The back porch light was on and the flashlight we keep in the kitchen is missing. I can’t think where she’s gone.”

Zach rounded the house, switching off his flashlight as he approached them. “I checked the back. Nothing there.” He nodded to the other two men. “Chief.”

Burkhalter returned the nod with a long look. “Randal. I heard you were back in town. Heard something about you being in law enforcement, too.” His tone expressed doubt.

Zach reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a dark object, which he flipped open to reveal a badge. “Pittsburgh P.D.”

The chief looked it over carefully before handing it back. “Good,” he muttered. “Just bear in mind this isn’t your jurisdiction.”

Meredith couldn’t remain silent. “Why are you wasting time? We have to find my mother.”

“She’s right,” Bennett said. “It’s clear something has happened to Margo. If she felt ill and she was alone...”

He let that trail off, but it was probably clear to everyone what he meant. Something had happened to her, and Meredith was to blame.

* * *

Z
ACH
FELT
FAIRLY
SURE
that Chief Burkhalter wasn’t convinced there was cause for alarm, but also sure that he wasn’t about to argue with the respected physician. Even retired, Bennett Campbell no doubt wielded a strong influence in Deer Run.

“Well, now, I don’t think you should worry too much.” Burkhalter patted Meredith’s hand. “We’ll do a search, but most likely we’ll find she’s visiting someone.” He held up a hamlike hand when Meredith seemed about to protest. “Yes, I know you called people, but likely she’s with the one person you didn’t think of.”

Meredith did not look soothed. “Without her car or her handbag? Or her keys, for that matter?” She swung to Zach. “Was the back door locked when you went out?”

“No. The porch light was on, and the door was unlocked.”

Meredith rubbed her arms, and he realized she was shivering. He caught Bennett Campbell’s gaze. If anyone would get Burkhalter moving, it would be him.

“This is nonsense,” Campbell snapped. “Standing here muttering platitudes while poor Margo is lying ill or injured. I demand you call out enough men to mount a thorough search.”

Zach saw Meredith wince at the image Campbell had planted. She needed something concrete to do.